Episode 41: The Girl From America

On the dueling arena balcony, Mokuba opens his eyes and sees Bakura. Joey, Tristan and Téa run up, with Yugi trailing behind, asking if Mokuba's okay. "He's coming around," Bakura tells the gang. His soul is back in his body! Who'd have thought Pegasus would keep his word? Tristan says. (In the Japanese, he asks Yugi where he was, and Yugi apologizes for being late.) Yugi asks Mokuba how he's feeling. Is he up to getting off the island? Not without my big brother, Mokuba says. Where's Seto?
Down in the dungeon, Kaiba awakens in his cell, the first words he says being, "Gotta... find... Mokuba." (In the Japanese, all he says is "Mokuba.")

Croquet goes to the gang on the balcony, telling them that Pegasus won't be able to come, due to his illness. (In the Japanese, he says Pegasus has been sent to the hospital. In the Japanese version is a brief moment where Yugi wonders if Bakura was the one who attacked Pegasus. But the Millenium Ring was lost.... The Ring is removed from the US version, and Yugi's musings replaced by Joey's voiceover.)

Joey thinks it's just an excuse to avoid paying off the prizes, but Croquet tells them all prizes are still to be awarded. Yugi's already received his agreed-on prize of three freed souls, but Pegasus also has a card for Yugi called the Ties of Friendship. Croquet tells Yugi it's one of a kind, hand-painted by Pegasus himself. (In the Japanese, Croquet doesn't mention the freed souls, or the stuff about the card being hand-painted. He just says Pegasus told him to give the card to Yugi.) Yugi accepts it, as Croquet tells him that he is now the King of Games. Then Croquet offers Yugi a check for three million dollars, the prize for winning the tournament. As agreed, Yugi passes it along to Joey, who gets all shiny-eyed as he accepts it to pay for his sister's eye operation.

"Now," Croquet says, as he turns to walk away, "We'd like you all to leave." (In the Japanese, he just walks away.)

Yugi can't wait to see his Grandpa again, who should also be recovering. (The Japanese writing on top of the hospital is removed in the US version. It says, naturally enough, "Domino Hospital.")

Outside the castle, Mokuba calls out for his big brother. But the castle is huge! Kaiba could be almost anywhere.

Beyond the castle entrance, a tall gate swings open, and there stands Kaiba, with his briefcase, the sunset glowing behind him, his coat floating in the breeze. Mokuba runs to him, crying, and hugs him, while Kaiba takes him by the shoulders and tells him it's all right. Joey gets a little emotional himself, watching the brothers reunite. (In the Japanese, Jounouchi says, "Stupid. You brothers must take care of each other!")

Kaiba kneels down to face his little brother, who takes out the locket with Kaiba's picture in it. Kaiba takes out his own locket, and holds it next to Mokuba's. "I would have risked anything to save you," he tells Mokuba. (In the Japanese, Mokuba tells Kaiba that he protected Kaiba Corporation. No one found out that his locket was the key. And Kaiba tells Mokuba he did good.)

Kaiba stands up, thanking Yugi for saving Mokuba. "He means everything to me," he says. (In the Japanese, he says, "I owe you one," and Yugi says, "It's nothing.") But due to the circumstances, their last duel wasn't really conclusive. (In the Japanese, he says, "Our test is not over yet.") One day, they'll meet in the arena, he says, and then they'll duel again. Yugi agrees.

Kaiba and Mokuba head off for Kaiba's helicopter. Yami stands beside Yugi and congratulates him on saving everyone. We did it together, Yugi says, and I don't even know your name! I've been called many things, Yami says: Pharaoh, Yugioh, Yami. Yugi calls him Yami, and says he's proud to be his friend. (Yugi never asks Yami's name in the Japanese. He always calls him "mou hitori no boku," the other me. He's never called "Yami," which just means "Dark," by any of the other characters.)

Joey suddenly realizes all the boats have left! They'd better hitch a ride with Kaiba! Joey and Tristan take off, soon followed by Yugi and Téa. But Bakura stays behind. He brings out the Millennium Eye, smiling. He has the real prize, he thinks, and soon he'll have Yugi's Millennium Puzzle as well! (In the Japanese, he says, "Millennium Eye get!" and licks the Eye, which is cut from the US version.)

At the hospital, Yugi and the gang find Yugi's Grandpa recovered and ready to go home. (The woman standing beside him is Yugi's mother. She appears later in one episode, but she's cut out of the US version.)

Later, Grandpa is walking with Yugi and the gang, getting caught up on all the Duelist Kingdom news. Yugi suggests that Grandpa should go home and rest, but he says he feels great! And nearly puts out his back stretching.

Suddenly, they're confronted by a very annoying little girl, who demands to know if Yugi's Grandpa is Solomon Mutou (Mutou Sugoroku). He says he is, and she says she's Rebecca, and she's been waiting for him. (In the Japanese, she's says she just got there from America. She says "God Damn!" in English a lot. She also talks to her teddy bear.) He's got her Blue Eyes White Dragon card, and she wants it back right now!

Téa begins to explain that there's a problem with that (the card was torn up by Kaiba, after his duel with Grandpa) but before she can finish, Rebecca insists that as a true champion, the card belongs to her. She's the number one duelist in America! They ask her how old she is, and she says she's eight. (In the Japanese, she's 12.) Yugi remembers reading an article about a Duel Monsters prodigy just before they left for Duelist Kingdom. Joey tries to impress her with his second-place win in the Duelist Kingdom tournament, but she says second place doesn't matter. While Tristan holds an angry Joey back, Grandpa asks her why she thinks the Blue Eyes White Dragon is hers. She insists that Grandpa stole it from her, and if he won't give it back, she'll duel him for it!

They adjourn to Kaiba Land (which is bedecked with statues of Blue Eyes White Dragons), where they talk Mokuba into letting them have a dueling arena, even though they're reserved three months in advance. But Grandpa is feeling tired, and Yugi insists on dueling in his place. So Rebecca faces off against Yugi. Note that this is actually Yugi playing this duel, not Yami. Yami doesn't show up at all in this pair of episodes.

Rebecca begins by playing Witch of the Black Forest in attack mode. Grandpa suddenly remembers another game that started out with this same move! Yugi wonders why she would begin with such a weak card. (In the Japanese, he remembers Bandit Keith and Pegasus J. Crawford, and thinks he knows something about American Duel Monsters players.) Then he summons Celtic Guardian (Elf Swordsman) and attacks Witch of the Black Forest, destroying it. Rebecca wails over her loss, then her teddy reminds her that when Witch of the Black Forest is sent to the graveyard, she can move a monster with a defense of 1500 or less from her deck to her hand. She picks a card and shuffles, then plays Sangan (Critter) in attack mode. Celtic Guardian destroys it as well, and Rebecca complains about how mean Yugi is! But Sangan allows her to select a card with an attack of 1500 or less from her deck and put it in her hand. Grandpa thinks that Rebecca's style of play is strangely familiar.

Next, Rebecca plays Tribute to the Doomed, a magic card that allows her to destroy one of her opponent's monsters by discarding a card from her hand. She destroys Celtic Guardian, then plays a monster in defense. Suddenly, Rebecca's playing a lot more seriously. That little kid stuff was just an act!

Yugi plays Summoned Skull and attacks Rebecca's defense monster. But her card is the Millennium Shield, a monster with 3000 defense points! Yugi loses 500 points. And Grandpa now remembers where he's seen this card before—in a game with Professor Arthur Hopkins, at an archaeological dig in Egypt. Then Rebecca plays a magic card, Ring of Magnetism. It reduces the Millennium Shield's defense to 2500. Yugi doesn't know what she's up to, and passes. So Rebecca plays Cannon Soldier (Oops! The graphic says Cannon Soldier's attack is 400, but the attack points on the card itself are 1400. The real card's attack is 1400, but its effect only takes 500 life points of direct damage from the opponent, not the card's entire attack strength. They must have changed the attack to 400 so as not to confuse the matter, but forgot to change the numbers on the card. This is the same in both versions.)

Grandpa calls out a warning—if Rebecca sacrifices a monster, she'll be able to attack Yugi's life points directly with Cannon Soldier! Yugi tries to attack Cannon Soldier with Summoned Skull, but the Ring of Magnetism draws its attack to the Millennium Shield. With 2500 defense points, it's unharmed by Summoned Skull's attack. Yugi has to find a way to break through that Millennium Shield, or he's helpless!

Rebecca draws the Shadow Ghoul. This will come in handy later, she thinks, and summons Witch of the Black Forest, sacrificing it to activate Cannon Soldier's special attack. Yugi loses 400 life points, and Rebecca gets to use Witch of the Black Forest's effect to add another monster to her hand. Joey says she must have learned dueling from someone as experienced as Grandpa, and Grandpa thinks Joey may be right. But Rebecca says she was taught by her Grandfather, the best duelist ever! (In the Japanese, she says, "You will learn what it feels like to lose the Blue Eyes White Dragon!")

Grandpa asks Rebecca what her last name is, and she says it's Hopkins. Her grandfather is Arthur Hopkins, the man Yugi's Grandpa betrayed, and whose Blue Eyes White Dragon he stole! Yugi tries to defend his Grandpa, but Rebecca insists he's a thief, and Yugi will pay!

To Be Continued